


Wassail!  Wassail!

by fawatson



Series: Christmas at the Clubhouse [22]
Category: RENAULT Mary - Works
Genre: Gen, ITOWverse, Lenaia, Metafiction, New Year's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-03
Updated: 2010-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-21 09:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6047116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fawatson/pseuds/fawatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As it is cold in the open-air theatre, the Secretary hands out warm hats and scarves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wassail!  Wassail!

**Author's Note:**

> This story was posted originally to the [maryrenaultfics](http://maryrenaultfics.livejournal.com) LiveJournal community as a gift to the members for Christmas in 2009.

There was an unexpectedly bitter tinge to the day.  They arrived mid-morning to find the theatre was half-empty; and those few who had come to see the first day of tragedies were bundled well against the cold.  The Secretary greeted Ralph and Laurie as they arrived.  She had been standing at the entrance handing out hats and scarves to everyone who came expecting balmier weather. 

“Cloaks are all very well,” she admonished the Ancient standing just in front of them, who objected to a woolly hat in a rather bright pink and lime green floral pattern. “But just remember:  at the end of the day, I’m sending all people with frostbite to Olive for treatment.”  She handed less garish garments to the pair of them—to which the Ancient took exception—and they passed into the theatre to find seats, leaving them still arguing; but Laurie later saw the woolly hat down in the front row, fixed firmly on the head of the grizzled warrior.  Looking bemused, Ralph turned over more than once the brown hat he’d been given, before putting it on, remarking that it looked strangely familiar.

They had taken seats in one of the back rows.  The stone was cold and rather hard on the bottom at first, until they had noticed a pile of cushions to one side.  People seemed to be just helping themselves.  By late morning the day had warmed a little; but sitting still for so long had thoroughly chilled both of them, so in an interval between plays they found a pair of capacious cloaks to spread over their shoulders.  The coverings also provided a modicum of privacy under which Ralph could put his arm round Laurie (not that anyone here today would show surprise).  Cups of soup and hot turkey sandwiches were passed round for lunch.  They were superseded by steaming, well-spiced, mulled mead as the day’s festivities wore on, which imbued everything with a lovely warm glow.  Altogether, it was a wonderful New Year’s outing, and a nice break from normal responsibilities and the cares of war.

The end of the day brought the traditional satyr-farce, to the amusement of all.  (The crowd had grown as the Macedonians piled into the theatre in anticipation.) 

“Not quite the version of the _Odyssey_ I remember from school,” offered Ralph afterward. 

Laurie nodded, without remark.  He had, however, laughed as loudly as everyone else when Silenos entered the stage wearing a mask with Bunny’s face.


End file.
